Gophers football: Defense, so bad for so long, starting to come together

It wasn't by much. But the Gophers went from bad to worse in total defense last season in Jerry Kill's first year as head coach.

Even with a dominant season finale, allowing just 160 yards in a 27-7 win over Illinois, Minnesota dropped from eighth (392 yards allowed a game) in the Big Ten Conference in 2010 to 10th (403) last season.

Defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys didn't have enough playmakers and couldn't be as aggressive as he wanted to. Claeys talked to the Pioneer Press this week about being able to make defensive adjustments this season because he will have more talent to work with when fall camp opens Saturday, Aug. 4.

Q: Will there be any major changes to your defense this fall?

A: If anything, we were a little short of a few things we needed to do a year ago. We were able to put in those couple of little adjustments during spring ball. But if you go and change everything, that's a problem. That's what happened to the kids here recently. Every year there was a big change, and nobody gets comfortable. I do think our kids have gotten a lot more comfortable with what the strength of our defense is. I'm very pleased with their understanding of things and the time they've put in watching film and doing things on their own. We're excited to watch them play this fall.

Q: How excited are you to have linebacker Keanon Cooper back after he missed spring practices with a wrist injury?

A: I'm excited to see Keanon play, especially because of all he went through this offseason (the death of roommate and former teammate Gary Tinsley, whom he found on their dorm room floor, unable to breathe).

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He's healthy. He's got his weight back to just above 220 (pounds). His wrist and thumb are just about as good as they're going to feel. He and Mike Rallis will be the two upperclassmen there. We'll need those two guys to be leaders for us on defense.

Q: How big a role will senior cornerbacks Troy Stoudermire and Michael Carter have?

A: Troy coming off his (forearm injury) is still learning the position. But if they can just continue to work as they did in the spring, and play as physical as they did and tackle as they did, we should be pretty solid there. Behind them we brought in (junior-college transfers) Jeremy Baltazar, Briean Boddy and Martez Shabazz. There's a lot better competition now. (Safeties) Derrick (Wells) or Brock (Vereen) can always go back out to corner, too.

Q: How good can junior defensive tackle Ra'Shede Hageman be this year?

A: At the end of last year, when we just got him to pass rush, he played very well the last four or five ball games in those situations. In spring ball, he did a lot better reacting on the line with the run-game blocking schemes. He's got the feet. He's athletic. What's hard for him is he has to work on keeping his pad down because he's so tall (6 feet 6). After fall camp, I think he'll get more comfortable. If he keeps working hard and progressing, he can be as good as anybody in the Big Ten inside.

Q: Was it too much hype for coach Jerry Kill to say Wells could be an All--Big Ten safety as a sophomore?

A: He's a very competitive person, anyway. We've played secondary kids as true freshmen to get them thrown into the fire, because any mistake back there, everybody sees it. So I just think Derrick's competitiveness, and with the experience he got last year, that he's very confident in himself. Cedric (Thompson) is also a big and athletic kid that can run. ... Brock is also sitting there and competing with them, too.

Q: Are you expecting Roland Johnson, a junior college transfer, to start at defensive tackle?

A: He's just very powerful and explosive off the ball. He's a kid, I think, who will be hard to block one-on-one. I'm definitely excited to see him play. He doesn't have the height necessarily (6-1), but he does have the size (295 pounds). He doesn't have a problem with pad level since he's not (as tall as Hageman). He gets under most people. You've got to have some depth and some rotation there. That will depend on how well Roland and Cameron Botticelli come along. But we also have Eric Jacques and Harold Legania. We have a chance with Roland to go four or five deep to keep fresh bodies in the game.

A: We've seen enough of him during the spring with him competing against D.L. (Wilhite), Ben Perry and Mike Amaefula. We're going to ask an awful lot of him and throw him in the fire right away. He does have athleticism. He's got some range to him because of his height (6-6). ... He really did well in the spring. He's gained a little more weight (up from 230 to 240 since April). His height is a plus, but his (6-9) wingspan helps him get off blocks and create separation. It's a lot harder to throw in the short passing game if you have taller guys up front.